Food security in Botswana

Hesselberg, Jan

doi:10.1080/00291959308552313

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…If the animals are in poor condition following a drought, the household may still manage to get the field ploughed if there is money to rent a tractor. Other characteristics being equal, a woman (particularly one without other sources of income) may experience a drought harder than a man, since it is she who usually is responsible for feeding the family, while it is the man who has more easy access to outside income (Hesselberg 1993).…”

Section: Dealing With Contradictions: a Methods Towards Achieving Clo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Landscape or in Interpretation? Reflections Based on the Environmental and Socio-economic History of a Village in NE Botswana

Dahlberg¹,

Blaikie²

1999

Environment and History

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In semi-arid Africa, environmental change continues to be debated, focusing particularly on the status and significance of land degradation and on local versus scientific knowledge claims. This paper suggests an approach for using different types of data sources, and for bringing together understandings of ecosystem dynamics and of people's interaction with the environment, and thereby achieving 'closure' in a highly contested terrain. The environmental and socio-economic history of a village in north-eastern Botswana is investigated using oral histories of villagers, aerial photographs (1964 and 1988), and official records. At first, descriptions of the environment appear confusing and contradictory, and at odds with official records. Rainfall is the focal point around which most explanations of environmental change turn. Here scientists find no long-term change, while villagers perceive a decline. Overstocking has been a main concern for policymakers throughout this century, while villagers do not see this as a problem. These, and ensuing contradictory perceptions, are partly resolved by identifying the main components linking the wider society to the local and to the environment, and by seeking a shared meaning between local and official versions, as well as between different local versions, of environmental change. We found, instead of contradiction, a striking convergence between, on the one hand, recent scientific understanding of the unpredictability and complexity of semi-arid dynamics and, on the other hand, the description and explanation of change offered by villagers themselves.

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Section: Dealing With Contradictions: a Methods Towards Achieving Clo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Landscape or in Interpretation? Reflections Based on the Environmental and Socio-economic History of a Village in NE Botswana

Dahlberg¹,

Blaikie²

1999

Environment and History

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“…Small producers are placed in a position where they may be forced to over-exploit a scarce resource in order to survive (Blaikie, 1985). The Tribal Grazing Land Policy (TGLP) in Botswana, which favours large cattle owners, has been characterised as a land grab, the taking away of large grazing areas traditionally used by small farmers (Hesselberg, 1993). According to Hesselberg (1993), the result of the above scenario is overgrazing on communal areas because large commercial ranchers have access to these and their own ranches.…”

Section: Savannasation Narratives/discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Examination of Theories on Savannasation and the Peasant-Environment Debate

Yaro¹

2008

West African Journal of Applied Ecology

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The paper examines man-environment relations in the African savanna. It argues that it is important to look at the relationship in a wider dimension involving conceptual frameworks that incorporate the dynamics of rural livelihoods, institutional factors, resource diversity, environmental variability and global influences on local socio-politico-economic landscapes. Land management decisions and investment patterns of diverse peasant representations are reflected in land use changes. Investigating these relationship has moved from the biased technocratic objective assessment of virgin lands and so-called mapping of human impacts to studies identifying the environment as an arena for synergistic interaction between 'man' economics and 'nature'. A conceptual shift to a 'people in places' paradigm allowing the experiences of people in differentiated environments to influence the analyses of social phenomena in savanna landscapes is underway. These shifts in thinking have multiple implications for designing policies for both rural development and environmental sustainability in the Ghanaian savanna. Ensuring sustainable livelihoods through institutions that grant secure and regulated access to resources, provide skills, capital and appropriate technology is key to environmental health and prosperity.

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“…Assets form the main source of back-up for the livelihoods of rural people. They fall on these assets in times of crisis by exchanging or cashing them (Hesselberg 1993). These assets are cashed or exchanged in a sequence at different levels of the crisis.…”

Section: Dynamism and Complexity Of Peasant Survival Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The poor peasant: One label, different lives. The dynamics of rural livelihood strategies in the Gia-Kajelo community, Northern Ghana

Yaro¹

2002

Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography

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Food security in Botswana

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Changes in Landscape or in Interpretation? Reflections Based on the Environmental and Socio-economic History of a Village in NE Botswana

Changes in Landscape or in Interpretation? Reflections Based on the Environmental and Socio-economic History of a Village in NE Botswana

An Examination of Theories on Savannasation and the Peasant-Environment Debate

The poor peasant: One label, different lives. The dynamics of rural livelihood strategies in the Gia-Kajelo community, Northern Ghana

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